The PS5 is truly a marvellous machine, but it certainly has its drawbacks. One of the biggest problems gamers have identified with Sony’s magic console is its storage capacity, which many consider to be somewhat lacklustre. The PS5 is rocking an 825 GB SSD, and while the loading times are lightning-fast and the draw distances are spectacular, the capacity itself leaves a lot to be desired for many gamers who are looking to optimise their space. Here’s what you can do if you find that your PS5 SSD is full.
Delete some games
Sometimes, you have to make the ultimate sacrifice. Deleting games from your SSD might not feel good, but it’s the only way to truly free up enough space to install more on your internal drive. Look through your library and consider whether there are any games you really could do without. Are there any titles you haven’t played in some time? Those should be the first candidates to go, as they’re effectively just taking up space on the console. Next, think about whether there are any single-player games you’ve finished that you aren’t likely to replay. Go through your library methodically and meticulously in this manner, deleting any games that you know you won’t need anymore.
Clear out your media gallery
If you’re like us and you love to save gameplay videos or screenshots, then your media gallery is going to fill up pretty quickly. You might have lots of videos taking up space on your console, and the file sizes for these videos can get pretty significant. It’s worth clearing out your media gallery on a regular basis so that you can make sure this isn’t what’s dragging your PS5’s storage down.
To do this, all you need to do is head to Settings, then Storage, then Console Storage. From here, you should see an option marked “Media Gallery”. Select it, and you’ll be shown all of your clips and images. You can then delete whichever ones you don’t need anymore. Familiarising yourself with this storage menu is always a good idea, because it’ll show you a breakdown of where your PS5’s SSD is getting full. You can also move screenshots and videos to an external drive, where you can store them until you need to put them back on the console for sharing.
Pick up some expanded storage
The PS5 is capable of storing games on external SSDs and HDDs. Unfortunately, you can’t play any of your games from these drives. You can only boot up games from the internal SSD and from certain M.2 models, which could cost a pretty penny and which you’ll need to equip with a heatsink (unless they have their own cooling mechanisms, which many do).
It’s still worth buying an external drive or two for your PS5 despite this limitation, though. This is because you can still store data on these drives, even if you’re not able to play games from them. You can then swap games in and out based on your requirements, which is much, much faster than reinstalling games every time you want to play them.
Install an M.2 drive
In September, Sony rolled out an update for the PS5 that unlocked the console’s M.2 SSD slot. This is the only way you can play games from an external drive, as most drives are too slow to launch PS5 titles. Only certain M.2 drives are supported by the PS5, though, so it’s important to read the specs before you buy one. Your drive will need at least 250GB of storage, and it’ll need to meet certain size, speed, and socket requirements too.
Once you’ve done this, you’ll also need to make sure your M.2 has an appropriate heatsink. Some devices don’t come with one, but if yours doesn’t, you can often purchase one separately. Installing the M.2 drive into the PS5 isn’t easy; it’s probably best done with supervision, so you can have someone on hand in case something goes wrong. It’s well worth following Sony’s official instructions for the process, because if you don’t, you could damage your PS5, perhaps irreparably if you’re not careful.
Subscribe to PlayStation Plus
Your save games are unlikely to be taking up too much space, but over time, the data they contribute can accumulate. Subscribing to PlayStation Plus is a good idea in this situation, as it offers cloud storage, so you can upload some of your most important saves to the cloud and stop them from clogging up your console. Indeed, when you’re a PS Plus subscriber, most games will automatically upload their saves to the cloud, so if you feel confident, you can delete them from local storage as and when.
Try out PlayStation Now
Another option if you want to save storage space is to use PlayStation Now. While there aren’t any PS5 games on this service (yet), it does offer many PS4 games that you can stream, thus eliminating the need to keep the data for those games in your local storage. Obviously, you should make sure the game you want to play is actually available on PS Now before you subscribe, but if it is, this is a good way to optimise your space. You can also play PS3 games and some PS2 games on PlayStation Now, so you can kill two birds with one stone and play some retro classics as well!